Alphas: Secrets of Neural Evolution
by DTheAntihero
Summary: This is basically an AU fic of Alphas. What if it was Nina who the team discovers at the beginning of the story, instead of Cameron? What kinds of different plans could Red Flag have concerning the differentiation between the neurotypical and neurodiverse? What different abilities can I come up with? Read if you'd like to find out. Feel free to give me reviews and critiques.
1. 01 - Enter the Alphas

**Volume 1**

**Chapter 1:** Enter the Alphas

It was a cloudy day in Manhattan, New York City, not much sun to keep the populace company during a busy day. People walked in different directions, trying to get to their destination while dodging the others around them. The gray sky blanketed the city as the clouds slowly floated, barely noticed by anyone. The environment gave a sense of tranquility, despite the many voices and murmurs that could barely be fully understood by the average person.

The day was Sunday and it was early in the morning, around eight thirty. Along with the adults moving around near the buildings of the city, there were kids running around in the Central Park area. The noises they made didn't seem to bother many people; just the intolerant of children. But what really went on was one group of kids' assault on another poor boy in a secluded area, around the tall trees of the park, where if one were to see them, there's a chance they may not care and move on with their day. Sometimes that's the way life went for these people. Sometimes they get off easy, get what they want. Nearly all of the other days though, they get screwed over.

The one boy getting harassed got backed onto the bark of a tree, surrounded by four bigger kids. The boy, Daniel Logan wore a slightly ripped and dirty black sweater with dark blue shorts. He didn't look much older than ten years with his short brown hair and innocent-like face. Greg, one of the other kids approached Daniel, looking like the leader of the group. He grabbed Daniel by the top of his sweater and slammed him against the tree once and held him there with his feet barely touching the grass beneath.

"What makes you think you can give me a death sentence, asshole?" the dominant boy harshly asked of Daniel, waiting for him to squirm and try to break free from his wrath. The victim didn't answer. Instead, Daniel just turned his head away, closing his eyes, praying that this confrontation would be over soon. Greg continued to speak.

"Come on, Daniel. Give me another prediction. How many more years do I have left to live? What about these guys?" Greg toyed in a falsely interested tone of voice. He focused primarily on Daniel's uncomfortably strained face, his victim's expression telling him to piss off, though he never had the guts to openly demand that of Greg or anyone else.

At that moment, a woman, Nina Theroux walked by the group of kids on the pavement. She wore a dark red shirt with tight black pants and heels that clicked against the ground with every step. The wind barely blew as her long curly black hair swung in that direction. Nina had a black purse over her shoulder, not too heavy as she tried to mind her business walking past the children. However, their voices proved too distracting as the corner of her eye was fixed on the children. It was then she noticed one of them was in trouble. She eventually paused and stared at the group of kids as they continued egging Greg on to punish Daniel.

"Why don't I predict when you're going to die, huh buddy?" Greg taunted as he kept shoving and hitting Daniel around like a ragdoll. He held him up a little higher against the tree, squishing and overpowering Daniel with his weight and strength.

"Check his pockets." One of the other boys suggested as all but Greg gathering in and shoved their filthy hands down Daniel's pockets, looking for money and other goods they might be interested in; stuff they didn't actually need but they liked tormenting him because he was an easy target. They were around the same age and were merely acting out of impulse, like most kids.

"Guys! Another associate of Greg called as he jingled a set of keys he found from Daniel's pocket. "These must be the keys to his house or something."

"Greg, give those back!" Daniel finally shouted as he struggled to set himself free from Greg's grip on him. The back of his sweater scrapped and tore up against the bark of the tree.

Just then, a female voice was heard behind the kids, clearing her throat loud enough to gain the attention of everyone there. They turned around to stare at Nina with disdain. She was an adult, a natural enemy for delinquent children. She was in her early thirties and she knew how to take control of any situation. The boys anticipated what she would do as she turned to the boy holding the keys.

"_Give those keys to me._" Nina commanded, locking her eyes with the boy. He complied, slowly lifting his handful of keys and giving them to the woman he just met, still gazing into her eyes, attracted to her decisive demands of him.

Angry, Greg finally let go of Daniel and tried to snap his friend out of it. "What do you think you're doing?" he shouted as the woman's victim turned to look at Greg for a second.

"Run!" another kid yelled as Greg and the other bullies tried to run away. The other kids did, but Greg's arm was held onto by the woman who clearly wasn't done.

"Let go, bitch!" he cried as he kept trying to pull away from her. She took his chin and guided his face towards hers as she took a stone from her pocket.

"_Stop bothering him._" Nina pushed, referring to the scared Daniel hiding behind the tree. Daniel watched as this new woman dominated his captor much like he had just done to him a moment ago.

"_Take this rock …_" she continued with a sinister grin on her face. "_… and eat it._"

Daniel widened his eyes, shocked as he witnessed Greg mindlessly obey his own captor and get a taste of his own bitter medicine. Greg held the stone in his hand and in his mind, he accepted the idea of eating it as if it was a good one. His decreased resistance to suggestibility made him vulnerable to the Nina's commands. It was similar to regular hypnosis but it was a little more complicated than that. It was more advanced in the respect that unlike the regular rules of hypnosis, the subject would have a much harder time snapping out of the trance, if they proved to be affected at all.

Greg tried and tried to eat the rock the woman gave to him, but surface of it was too hard for his teeth to break apart. His eyes watered and he was clearly hurting. However, he wasn't in the mindset to allow himself to give up. Like a zombie watching the television, he kept attempting to try again and again. The scrapes of his teeth against the rock gave Daniel a little relief.

Nina then turned to Daniel and tossed him back the keys. The kid stumbled with the catch out of nervousness, letting the keys make a loud jingled stop on the ground, but he was grateful. She then gave him a wink. Though, before Daniel could thank her, the persuasive woman had already begun walking away. He tried following and calling out to her.

"Thanks!"

His saviouress turned around to see the kid staring her down with awe. Nina smiled, walking back towards him. She was nearly twice as tall as him as she stared down at him.

"Sixty-six …"

Nina tilted her head to the left a little, wondering about the significance of what the boy had just said. The boy analyzed Nina's body; the general structure, the health of her vital organs, heart, bones and brain activity. His mind allowed him to see her body like an x-ray. Daniel couldn't help but take a good look and sense her health state, it was an addiction to him, which is ironic because he doesn't necessarily like doing it.

"Sixty-six years …" Daniel continued, murmuring timidly to himself. "And twenty-two days. That's how long she has …"

The dark-haired woman lifted her eyebrows in confusion like what he was saying was ridiculous. She merely laughed it off, seeing how shy the boy seemingly was after he said that.

"How did you do that, anyway?" Daniel asked of her, trying to change back to the subject at hand.

Nina then knelt down to Daniel's level and looked him in his brown coloured eyes.

"_Don't talk to strangers._" She told him, using her hypnotic ability in a soft and soothing voice. "_Go home._"

Not saying anything for a moment, Daniel quickly pondered, then looked back at Nina.

"I should go home …" Daniel mindlessly agreed. "Bye …" He turned around without much of a facial expression and walked away from her, focusing only on going straight to his house. Deciding it was enough, Nina turned and walked in a different direction, crossing the Central Park. She only had her own thoughts to keep her company at that point, though the loud clicking of her heels kept interrupting. She soon found her way back into the busy city and pressed the button to activate the walk signal to cross the street.

"Way to go, Nina." She sarcastically congratulated to herself as she waited about twenty seconds before the walk signal glowed. "Whatever. At least I helped someone for a change."

A few more hours into the day, Dr. Lee Rosen, a man in his mid-sixties walked into an office building in Queens. It was a large construct that stood taller than most buildings and held many people, including the Department of Defense. To the public, it is a company known for market research. However, believable as it was, it was a cover story for something greater. Something that could potentially become dangerous if the secret was released to the general public. At least, that's what the Department of Defense believed. There weren't always perfect agreements in the offices, but everyone had to work together in order to make ends meet.

Lee, both a psychiatrist and a neurologist is the leader of a group of people he called, "alphas", a term coined by himself, referring to seemingly ordinary human beings with various enhanced and unique abilities. A ding was heard as the elevator doors opened and let Lee out. He wore a professional gray shirt with a crimson tie as he walked by the offices of his fellow alpha team members.

Cameron Hicks, a man with a small office who sat on the rugged couch, bouncing a baseball down on the ground, against the wall across with a catch at the end. Every single time. Every time Cameron bounced the ball, it would always start and end the same way. That's because his ability is hyperkinesis; an ability that allowed Cameron to have perfect hand-eye coordination. He could analyze the perfect way to make the shot. If an enemy was far away, running all over the place, it wouldn't matter to him; he would still be able to aim with extreme precision and get the perfect result.

Bill Harken, a black married man who was the most professional out of all the alpha team members, being an ex-F.B.I. agent. He's an already strong man who has the ability to flood his brain with adrenaline, temporarily yet vastly increasing his strength and speed in the process. Virtually no one can take him on in a hand to hand fight and win.

Rachel Pirzad, a twenty-four year old woman whose ability lets her enhance one of her senses at the cost of downsizing all of the others, also known as synesthesia. She's a timid clean freak, though a very capable and polite person. She usually spent her office time studying chemicals and the micro elements of an object and can effectively identify anything she comes across. Due to the nature of her ability, Rachel found it difficult getting close to people, dating, or eating certain foods, being afraid of germs and all.

Lastly, there was Gary Bell. He was a special member of the alpha team who could transduce incoming signals from phone towers, cameras, the internet and the like. Unfortunately, this ability had naturally made Gary autistic, due to how differently his brain functions. This has caused him to become obsessed with using his ability for anything and everything all the time, making him a walking invasion of privacy.

Dr. Rosen politely asked each member of his team to have a meeting in his office. Rosen's office was large and possessed typical qualities of an office owned by someone with a higher rank than people, including a wide range window, many pure wood shelves of books and records sitting closely next to each other, and a desk with piles of paperwork. As the group entered the large room, Gary kept talking on and on with Bill.

"I passed the driver's test online, Bill. I passed it!" he told Bill with enthusiasm, yet showed little development in his facial expression. "That means I get the privilege to drive. Your car I mean … for lessons!"

Bill, being used to Gary's usual antics of expressing himself through literal means, just chuckled. "Gary, I'll teach you to drive when I have the time and when I feel like risking my life for your sake." He responded prominently.

"No but I passed it, Bill and besides, that's a moot point you've just made. We, not just you risk our lives very often. You know that, Bill."

"Ugh," Rachel groaned as she sat down on the couch with Gary and Cameron. "How dangerous could he possibly be?"

"It's not me that's dangerous, Rachel. I said I passed. Remember?"

"That's true. It's the other people you need to worry about, Gary." Cameron jumped in at the last minute before the doctor closed the door and spoke.

"It looks like we have another alpha case, people." He began, holding files of paper in his hands while standing and looking over his members.

"More Red Flag stuff?" Cameron guessed, looking down with his fingers folded and his elbows resting on his knees as he sat forwardly.

"Not that we know of," Lee replied. There was slight hesitation in the sound and rhythm of his voice. "But listen closely." He displayed files and pictures of M.R.I.'s amongst the group members. The M.R.I. showed a scan of a lesion in the subject's brain.

"The scan you are looking at now is from a child who was recently sent to the hospital earlier today." Lee continued. "His name is Greg Patterson. There appeared to be a micro-seizure in the frontal lobe of his brain."

"What was he in the hospital for?" Rachel asked, looking carefully at the scan.

"He apparently swallowed a rock."

Gary scoffed. "Typical kid stuff. It's child's play!"

"Yes, Gary." Dr. Rosen said. "But here's the interesting part: Allegedly, someone made him do it."

The alpha members paused and looked at each other, intrigued. "An alpha who can control other people's minds?" Bill assumed, gesturing his hand in swirls at the side of his bald head.

"Exactly." Dr. Rosen replied, nodding to him. "The doctors say they've prepped him for surgery and we don't know the results yet."

"Who would do such a thing to a child?" Rachel asked, not expecting much of a good excuse.

"Well apparently it was an older woman. Greg gave us a description of her while at the hospital." Dr. Rosen answered as he pointed to the files she was looking at. "If you look at the last few pages, you'll see that we've found her."

"Rachel swept away the pages as Cameron, Gary and Bill looked over her shoulders.

"Her name is Nina Theroux." Dr. Rosen added. "Judging from the M.R.I., I have reason to believe she is an alpha that can decrease the subject's resistance of suggestion by somehow manipulating the frontal lobe which is the part of the brain responsible for thinking, planning and the choices people make, including the ability to resist unworthy suggestions."

"That sounds pretty dangerous." Bill sighed, standing up to come to terms with Lee's theory. "So … if she were to come up and tell me to punch Hicks in the face, I'd automatically do it? No questions asked?"

"Perhaps," Lee answered, shrugging. "But I've yet to study this particular kind of alpha. We don't know what limits this ability may have and we weren't able to get this information from the Greg."

"With Harken's ability," Cameron said with a friendly smile. "I hope that doesn't happen. I'll end up with a broken face."

"That stinks! That means we're going into this case blind …" Gary chipped in as he was busy moving his hands to look for random signals.

"I suppose so. Gary, please pay attention." Lee told him. The doctor thought for a moment, adjusting his glasses. "Okay, this is obviously a powerful ability and we need to stop this woman before she hurts any more people. Gary, I'm going to need you to ping locations to try and find her."

Pinging is the official nickname made up by Dr. Rosen, referring to Gary's ability.

"Yeah …" Gary mumbled. "Okay but I get to use the picture. It'll guide me!"

"Yes, of course." Lee quickly agreed before turning to the others. "Cameron and Bill, you can work with Gary to try to find her in person, but no unnecessary violence."

"Okay, but if this woman Nina tries to mind-bends us, we might not have a choice." Bill warned with a serious tone in his voice.

"These files say this happened in the Central Park. I can see if I can try and trace what happened." Cameron offered.

"Yes, please do, Cameron." Dr. Rosen agreed as he then turned to Rachel. "Rachel, I want you to come with me to see if you can find her scent or increase any other sense to find her."

"Was she wearing any perfume?" she asked him.

"Maybe but we don't know what kind. You could try increasing your hearing to see if you can hear a woman's voice giving a command."

Bill stepped in once again. "Does the D.O.D. know about this?" The D.O.D. meaning "Department of Defense", a tactical group used for the more dangerous and violent situations.

"No …" Lee replied, hesitantly. "I never like having to rely on them for situations like these, Bill. Having them hunt her down and shove her into Binghamton seems like a quick fix solution that doesn't help anybody in the end."

The group members didn't say anything or do much. They just gathered up all the pages back into the folder and closed it up.

"I only want that to happen as a last resort." Dr. Rosen finalized.

"Fair enough," Bill said as he looked around, readying himself and the others. "Let's get started."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	2. 02 - Hyper Induction

**Chapter 02:** Hyper Induction

An hour into the investigation of Nina Theroux, Cameron and Bill found themselves walking in Central Park side by side as partners. It was a little windy, making Cameron's brown checkered shirt blow to the right. They had black pistols hidden to their sides, just in case they felt threatened with violence. Though, Bill had a different opinion on this.

"I'm not so sure it was wise to bring firearms to this." He warned under his breath to Cameron. "What if she finds a way to make me shoot you?"

Cameron looked at him, knowing how a situation like that would end up, feeling fear. "Well, Rosen did say if necessary." He answered back.

Bill took out his pistol and unloaded it. "I'm taking the bullets out just in case."

"You think that's a good idea?" Cameron asked, walking past in front of him, turning back to look after his friend. "What if she runs?"

"She wouldn't run, Hicks." Bill urged as he clicked his gun and inserted it back into its sleeve. "Rosen called her a hyper induction alpha. We don't know how but she could make us go away, take our money and weapons, make us shoot each other, even make us shoot ourselves if she felt like it."

Cameron looked away, agreeing with what he said, though still determined to get the job done. "That's kind of scary."

He then noticed something on one of the trees up ahead. "Come on!" he told Bill as he pointed forward. The both of them walked up, treading into the dirt and grass.

"You see something?" Bill asked.

Cameron knelt down, reached out his hand and touched the small piece of black clothing thread stuck on the rough bark of the tree. Pondering for a bit he thought about the best possible answers for it being there. He then turned to Bill.

"It's most likely a sweater." Cameron began, bringing himself back up. "Probably some other kid Greg was fighting with. My guess is he shoved him against the tree and that's when Nina showed up."

Bill nodded slightly as Cameron further explained the images that naturally ran about in his head. "I think she came over, stopped the fight and tried to punish Greg by forcing him to swallow the rock." Cameron finished.

"That's pretty harsh." Bill sighed, shaking his head. He tapped into his earpiece connecting him to Dr. Rosen and the rest of the team. "Any of you guys get anything?"

Gary, from his office answered while twirling and pinging signals from the air. "Nothing, Bill. I'm trying to look for instances of theft but nobody is reporting anything." He stuttered while concentrating. "They should report it, though. It isn't nice to steal and I'm betting she's done it before since you know, she can get away with it."

Dr. Rosen and Rachel were busy walking into a bar, listening in. "Yes. You're right, Gary." Rosen responded while on the lookout. "We've visited a lot of locations ourselves but haven't found any suspicious activity."

Rachel scratched her nose out of mild frustration. "I'm trying to sort out everyone's odor but I'm not getting anything either."

Just then, Dr. Rosen noticed someone being spoken to at one of the bar seats at the front of the room. Lee watched as the man in the black suit and dark blue tie stared into the eyes of a woman. She had a soothing voice, calming to the soul and just too captivating for most people to handle.

"Rachel," he whispered, tapping her shoulder, carefully pointing in the direction of the two people. "See if you can hear what those two are talking about."

Rachel brushed away a part of her long brown hair from one of her ears, focused with enough brain power to increase the sensitivity of her hearing, while feeling the rest of her senses being drained away little by little. Her smell, sight, taste and touch became more and more insignificant as her hearing grew into dominance. The woman's voice quickly faded in.

"_You don't need to be anywhere right now. Right?_"

"Right …"

"_Then say it back to me._"

"I don't need to be anywhere …"

"_Good. Now, buy me a drink please._"

Rachel watched as the submissive man did just that. She heard a slow and deep echoing beat as she focused on the man's actions. The woman's dominance gave Rachel shivers; her sensitive body pulsed with nervousness and anxiety. She then leaned over to Rosen to whisper.

"Dr. Rosen … I think that might be her."

"What? What did you hear, Rachel?"

"It seemed like that woman over there might be Nina. She just forced the man sitting next to her to buy a drink for her." Rachel subtly pointing, hoping she wouldn't be noticed.

"Well Rachel, a man buying a drink for a woman is very common. How do you know for sure?"

"His heartbeat was slower than normal, like he was relaxed. I also noticed he was looking directly into her eyes."

Dr. Rosen tilted his head, thinking for a moment. "Maybe her ability to push others to do her bidding focuses on full eye contact with the subject. If I'm right, then in order to question her, we need to block her ability somehow."

"Would sunglasses do?" Rachel made sure to have her head completely turned away from Nina's direction.

"Perhaps, but we need to make sure they're dark enough for her not to see our eyes.' Rosen put his hand on Rachel's shoulder to attempt to put her at ease. "Why don't we go meet up with the others?"

All members of the group (except for Gary who remained in the office) met near the front of the bar, with Dr. Rosen making sure Nina stayed where she was, trying not to be seen. Rosen had told Bill to gather up some dark sunglasses for their own protection.

"I like this idea." Cameron put on the sunglasses, reveling in the stylistic fashion and its purpose. "So you really think this'll work, doc?"

"Well, Rachel saw what she saw and she's never wrong about these things so yes, I think it will." Rosen put his old pair of glasses into their case and replaced them with his own sunglasses.

"This makes me feel like Men in Black." Bill already having his sunglasses on smiled. He turned to Dr. Rosen. "We ready to take her?"

"Well, let's just try talking to her first, Bill. If she runs, you and Cameron can go after her."

"But doc, she seems dangerous." Bill remarked, readying his hand for the gun at his side.

"Yes, but all alphas can be dangerous, right? Just use violence only if absolutely necessary."

Bill sighed as the four of them entered into the bar; they eyed Nina still sitting with the man she was with earlier. Cameron and Bill stayed back while Dr. Rosen and Rachel finally approached Nina. She nonchalantly took a sip of her red wine as she turned as saw the group coming. Nina gently put down the wine glass and faced Dr. Rosen who was in front of the group.

"Excuse me. You're Nina Theroux, right?"

She shrugged her shoulders, already disinterested. "Who wants to know?"

"We're with the government. It's recently been reported that you've been involved in an accident involving a child." Rosen stuttered over his words in anticipation of her next move, wondering if he was wrong about her ability, if she would physically attack him if he wasn't. He did his best to look into her eyes through his sunglasses to test his theory, though she never made that much of an effort.

Nina sighed in frustration. "Am I under arrest?"

"No, Nina." Dr. Rosen wondered why she hadn't tried her ability yet. "But we insist that you come with us or someone else we work with may take harsher methods in taking you in once they find out about what you can do."

Nina lifted an eye at the doctor. Deciding to try challenging his words, she responded back to him with a more interested yet condescending smile. "And what is it that you think I can do?" Her words had an erotic and mature sound as if she was trying to flirt with him.

Rachel, feeling brave by hiding behind sunglasses, answered her. "We know you can make people do things."

Nina turned to Rachel, noticing she had sunglasses like Dr. Rosen. Rachel continued to speak up, despite all the pressure on her at the moment. "Y-You can force people to … do whatever you want. …Right?"

Nina thought for a moment, realizing there wasn't a way out.

"How come you haven't tried pushing me?" Dr. Rosen asked, still looking into the woman's eyes. Everything seemed to be anticlimactic to the team. It took a few seconds for Nina to answer him, confused about the terminology.

"I'm sorry … Pushed?"

"Yes, that's how I've decided to coin your kind of ability as."

Nina looked around, looking for a possible way out of the predicament. However, the only way out was the way in. She noticed Bill and Cameron standing by the entrance, wearing the same kind of dark glasses Rachel and Dr. Rosen were wearing. She knew she couldn't get away, at least from here. She wanted to take things easy and see how she could slip out of the situation later. Nina slowly got up, shaking her head. Rachel carefully backed a little, abandoning her courage without a thought. "Alright," Nina began, changing the subject. "If you want me to go, we can go."

Dr. Rosen had all but confirmed his suspicions. "So it's true then." Nina raised an eyebrow at him as he continued talking. "You can only activate your ability when you have full eye contact with the person in question."

Nina gave him a casual yet suspicious chuckle. "I haven't told anyone about that. How did you know?"

"Well, I'm a neurologist as well as a therapist. I'm very intrigued by the human mind and what it's capable of."

Nina walked out of the bar with Dr. Rosen, having Rachel, Cameron and Bill behind. Dr. Rosen continued conversing with her as he led her into their car.

"The kinds of people I study are different from regular human beings."

"Oh, really?" Nina responded. "What kind are they?"

Dr. Rosen smiled politely and proudly. "Alphas."

Still with their glasses on, the group took the captivating lady to Binghamton, more specifically, Building Seven. Binghamton was a facility consisting of seven different buildings that held criminal alphas of ranked viciousness, the first being the lowest and the seventh being the highest. The place had a dull and quiet atmosphere as Nina very quickly noticed as the group's car entered. There was no one outside but them. The place seemed as large as an average University campus that induced dread into whoever was threatened to be sent there. It was essentially a prison and mental institution exclusively for alphas. Dr. Rosen had arranged for Nina's study to be in an office of the seventh building to be on the safer side. He felt guilty to have her see the place already, especially since she seemed to be cooperating fairly well so far.

Dr. Rosen and Bill escorted Nina to a secure room, having her restrained and lying down inside an MRI machine scanning the neural structure of her mind. Up and down, the light slowly dragged as Nina tried to pace and relax herself.

"I guess I knew I'd end up somewhere like this eventually …" she thought with deep breaths. "If I tried to run, they would've shot me … but a regular prison couldn't hold me, so what's so different about this place?"

Outside of the room, Dr. Rosen and the other three looked on a computer analyzing Nina's brain. It was Rosen who studied the most while Rachel, Cameron and Bill mostly stood to the side waiting for results. Then Dr. Rosen noticed something.

"This looks interesting."

"What did you see?" Rachel came a little closer to try and follow along.

"Nina's Broca's area seems enlarged." Rosen looked around at everyone to make sure he had their attention. "It's the part of our brain that controls our speech."

"So she can control people's minds with her voice." Cameron then turned to Bill. "Make me a grilled cheese sandwich …" he said, pretending to 'push' Bill.

"Very funny, Hicks. How do we explain the sunglasses blocking it though?" Bill added.

Dr. Rosen cornered his eyes a little, tilting his head slightly downwards like he usually did when hypothesizing. "Well, whenever two people lock eyes, nearly all of their sensory information is focused on that target. Nina must somehow be able to override the subject's sensory data with most of her own. I think her broca's area has mutated to be strong enough to send signals directly through the subject's eyes and into their prefrontal cortex." He looked around at his group with a hopeful eye. "Would any of you like to volunteer to be a test subject for me?"

Rachel cringed, tensely worried for her safety while Bill looked confused. Cameron then turned to Dr. Rosen. "I'll go. What do you want me to do?"

Dr. Rosen had both Nina and Cameron restrained, sitting down on white metal chairs, facing one another inside the MRI room. Cameron still had his sunglasses on and didn't have any weapons on him. The two of them had various wires connected to their heads which lead to the machine on the other side where the other part of the group were. Cameron swung his arms back and forth, relieving a little stress. Bill was also with them, pacing himself. He made sure his sunglasses were as stuck to his eyes as possible as if they had a good chance of falling off, revealing a drastic weakness to the alpha with a potentially dangerous ability. Cameron, finding Nina's beauty to be intriguing, decided to lighten the mood a little by conversing with her, though his feelings were mixed in with a bit of spite.

"This should be fun." He enthused, smiling at Nina. "How come you didn't try to run before?"

"What was I supposed to do?" she rhetorically asked. "You had guns. You were blocking the exits."

"We just wanted to be safe. That's all."

"Do you people always do this to people like me?" she asked after rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, pretty much. We track down alphas, study them and if they seem okay, let them go. If not …"

"You lock us away here. Right?"

"Now you're catching on. We usually just do this sort of thing back at the office but well, you know …"

"You're scared of me?" Nina taunted playfully.

"Well, no, I mean …" Cameron blushed a little, noticing her trying to make contact through his glasses as a way of poking fun at him. He then chuckled. "Yeah. I'm not going to lie. We're scared."  
"I understand." Nina paused for a moment, partly dejected. "I can admit I'm a selfish person. I'd be damn lucky and flattered if I ever get someone who trusts me even for a moment."

Cameron's face turned stern. "You hurt that kid."

After looking at him, Nina couldn't find the strength to say anything. She just sighed with sorrow as she waited for Dr. Rosen's orders through the speaker.

"Alright, Nina. Do you understand what to do?"

"Sure do. Push this guy and don't try any funny stuff or else …"

"Or else is right." Bill mumbled, keeping his hand on his pocket with the tranquilizer gun he had. "Now, doc?"

"Yes, Bill. You may remove Cameron's sunglasses."

And he did just that. As soon as Nina got a good look at Cameron's gray coloured eyes, she could immediately appreciate the sight. She gave him a friendly smile to try easing him in.

"Whenever you're ready, Nina." Rosen's voice roughly muffled through the speaker. Nina readied herself, facing Cameron. "You ready?"

"Bring it on."

Nina focused her attention on Cameron's eyes. "_Take a deep breath and relax for me_."

He took his time to suck in a bunch of air and slowly let it out immediately after, letting his body release some of its energy.

"_Stick out your tongue_."

Cameron looked silly with his wet tongue hanging out like an obedient puppy. Nina giggled to herself while Dr. Rosen noticed something else on the screen behind the glass window.

"This is peculiar. Her broca's area is pulsing, allowing her to modulate her voice somehow." Rosen made sure to save the images as he turned to the microphone again. "Keep going, Nina. Cameron, you're doing great. Keep going." He urged, looking at Cameron's MRI this time.

"_So tell me your name. Answer me truthfully_."

"Cameron Hicks."

"_What's your background?_"

"I used to be a marine sniper and I'm currently divorced." Cameron's voice sounded quite monotone as he couldn't look away from Nina's eyes.

"_So are you an alpha?_"

"Yes."

"_Describe your ability._"

"Hyperkinesis. I have perfect aim and hand-eye coordination."

Dr. Rosen received more results from the scans. "It's just as I'd suspected." He calmly informed. "It seems that Nina's ability activated Cameron's amygdala when he made eye contact with her." Rosen paused, carefully analyzing the process. "Nina can somehow manipulate her subject's dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which is the part of our brain responsible for decision making and willpower. Using a combination of her eyes and voice, she must send some sort of signal that's just too compelling for the average brain to handle." He looked on and decided to stop the test, hoping she wouldn't make Cameron reveal any information that was too personal. "Okay, that's good enough, Nina. Bill put Cameron's glasses back on and remove the wires and restraints, please."

"Both of them?" Bill lifted an eyebrow, disbelieved and hoping his boss would change his mind.

"Yes. I believe we've seen enough for now. We'll keep our glasses on though … at least for now."

Bill grumbled with frustration as he obeyed the doctor's orders. It didn't take very long for Cameron regained his self-control, only about a minute. He, Nina and Bill then went over to the other side to see the results on the computer. No one, much less Nina really knew that much about what Rosen spoke about but they still held their interest because it was something new to be learned about a new alpha and the ability they had to offer.

"Hyper induction?" Nina repeated back to Rosen, processing the new term in her mind.

"Yes! This is actually quite exciting for all of us. We've never met an alpha quite like you, Nina." Rosen assured pleasantly, despite his not so subtle mistrust for her. "It would be good if you could control your ability and use it for more benevolent purposes."

Nina shrugged, knowing the selfishness and sometimes dangerous acts that she has done over the years ever since she discovered she had this power over people. She clearly did not feel too good about herself.

"Nina …" Rosen added making sure she paid attention to him. "You have the potential to change the world for everyone's benefit."

"Can you control everybody like this?" Bill stepped in.

"Well, it doesn't work on everyone. I don't really know why, though. Sorry."

Just then, Dr. Rosen's cell phone interrupted the group's conversation. "Uh, well we're more than happy to work with you to gain more insight about your ability, Nina. Excuse me." Rosen stumbled over his words, about to answer his phone. "Lee Rosen."

"Hey, it's me." A deep male voice answered back.

"Oh. Hello, Clay." Rosen greeted, recognizing who it was.

"I just checked back with Greg Patterson back at the hospital."

Rosen clenched his fist a little, anticipating what Clay would say next about the situation. "How did it go?"

"The surgeons removed the stone … but he passed away due to complications."

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. 03 - Hyper-kinesis

**Chapter 03:** Hyper-kinesis

Dr. Rosen held the phone to his ear, increasing his grip due to his worst fear of Nina's situation coming true. He had hoped things would get better somehow, some way. Greg may have been a bully to Daniel, but in Rosen's mind, Greg never deserved this kind of punishment. Doomed thoughts faded in and out of Rosen's head.

"He was just a kid … Why did this have to happen?"

Rosen kept silent for a moment, pacing himself and accepting what he had just been told seemingly so casually over the phone. He finally mustered up some words for Clay.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Clay." He knew what had to be done at this point. There was no going back. No excuses or exceptions. "We'll take care of it."

"Also, we have Greg's parents." Clay clarified. "They're pretty angry and out for blood."

"I understand. Do your best to calm them down. Tell them we've caught the one who did it." Rosen tried to be as subtle as possible, though near the other end of the room, Nina was already sweating. While, Nina was desperate to push someone for a way out, Rosen pushed his dark glasses against his head, making sure they wouldn't by any chance fall off. He suspected Nina would fight back if they tried to lock her away in the seventh Binghamton building. Tension built up inside as he also knew he and his group had to figure out a way to deal with her regardless. "I'll call you back, Clay."

"I'll be waiting."

With that, Rosen hung up. He slowly turned to Nina, feeling brave behind his glasses. It was his job to be, anyway. Everyone kept silent, especially Nina, waiting for what Dr. Rosen would do or say next.

"Nina … I'm sorry."

The influencer woman immediately knew something terrible was wrong and it was her fault. To her, it usually was and she was the 'bad guy', a term she unwittingly got used to ever since she became comfortable with her ability as a kid. There was no one to tell her what to do. She was always in charge … and the guilt always came with it.

"What's going on?" she stuttered, suddenly seeing Dr. Rosen and his team as enemies out to get her. She knew it had to have something to do with the kids she pushed earlier. She never thought of herself as someone who would willingly cause harm to anyone, much less children. Like an addict, Nina knew she could very rarely help it.

"What's the matter, doc?" Bill echoed, keeping his hand in his pocket, anticipating the order to draw his weapon on Nina.

"Nina … Please, I need you to calm down and come with us." Rosen told her, stumbling over his words like a nervous wreck, though still strong enough to keep some of his composure.

"I said … what is going … on!" Nina demanded, trying to deal with the fact that everyone around her was trying to block her ability with sunglasses. She suddenly resented the fact that Dr. Rosen was intelligent enough to figure out the weakness of her ability so quickly. She glanced around the room, frantically looking for a way out. Her last look was at Cameron, the man she connected with a little in the test room. That was the first time she had seemed to have made a friend in quite a while. Short and sweet, but it felt soothing to her nonetheless. Before she looked back at Dr. Rosen, she noticed Cameron's glasses stuck out a little from his eyes.

Rosen paced himself before revealing the truth to Nina. "Greg passed away. The kid you pushed into swallowing that rock is dead, Nina." He spoke softly with a touch of melancholy.

That did it for Nina. The news overwhelmed her mind and broke her. It broke everyone else as well. Rachel, being the sensitive one, turned away to face the wall to cry. Dr. Rosen went over to comfort her. He placed his hand on her shoulder to help her cope. Without anything to lose at this point for her, she turned to Cameron who was also saddened. Seeing her chance, she swiftly snatched his sunglasses away from his eyes and whipped them across the room. They broke against the wall as Nina cupped her hands to Cameron's face, making sure they faced hers.

"_Get me out of here!_" she urgently pushed. "_Help me!_"

"Hey!" Rachel shouted, noticing the noise going on behind her.

Bill also took action and drew his tranquilizer. Unfortunately for Bill, Cameron immediately took notice, and like a zombie he obeyed Nina's command and jumped in front of her.

"Hicks!" Bill called, trying to break him free from Nina's induction. "Back off!"

"Just do it, Bill!" Rosen quickly commanded, though not quickly enough. As Bill attempted to aim and fire, Cameron grabbed a nearby book and with great precision, threw it right at Bill, crashing square into his forehead. As a result, Bill accidentally and blindly fired into the lamp hanging above, shattering the glass before it all hit the floor, distracting everyone so he and Nina could get away. Cameron quickly drew his pistol and shot one of the hinges and the doorknob, frightening everyone else in the room. As quickly as he shot, Cameron forcefully kicked the locked door down and immediately noticed to male guards at the door. Before they had a chance to react, Cameron knocked them all out by shooting them in the legs and beat them unconscious with his fists. Impressed by Cameron's ability, Nina pushed him further.

"_Good. Keep doing what you're doing and show me the exit._"

As the two of them left, Rachel and Dr. Rosen came to Bill's side who was already recovering.

"Bill. Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"I'll be alright. Just keep yourself safe." Bill grunted, slowly getting up. "I'll call security and go after them."

Dr. Rosen suddenly heard Gary calling his name over and over through the earpiece he was wearing, distracting him for a second. "Yes. Good idea, Bill. Tell them to lock all the exits."

After Bill left the room, Rosen answered his phone to Gary. "Hello, Gary."

"Hi, Dr. Rosen." Gary answered back, awkwardly, just barely interrupting Rosen. "I just pinged you. You let Nina escape … despite your protection." Gary spied on them back at his office, twirling his finger in the air to sort out the electromagnetic signals.

Shrugging, Rosen spoke back. "Yes, Gary we did. She pushed Cameron in a moment of weakness."

"Y - … Yeah, I know! She pushed him. I saw! She's like a femme fatale … She's powerful. Anyway … I want to help, Dr. Rosen. What do you want me to do?"

"You can tell us where she's going in this building. Don't come here, Gary. Just stay where you are."

"Okay … uh … yeah! I was planning on doing that." Gary's words turned into a mumble, distracted by his work, looking through the cameras in Building Seven while trying to converse with his team.

"I can hear their footsteps fading away." Rachel added. "Where are they now, Gary?"

Seeing through the camera with his signals, Gary spotted Cameron and Nina running through the hall from one end to the other. He single-mindedly focused on their signals only. "Okay … they're on the second floor. I can see security trying to stop Nina but Cameron's too quick for them. He's beating them down! But the exits are already locked. I – I can guide you, though."

"Okay, good. Keep in touch, Gary." Rosen concluded for the moment. "Let's go, Rachel."

Clearly stressed out, Rachel took off her glasses to wipe away her tears and used breathing exercises Dr. Rosen had taught her a long time ago. Trying to stay strong for her, Rosen supported her in her breathing.

"That's it, Rachel. You're alright."

"This is such a crappy day." Rachel said, putting her glasses back on.

"Believe me. I know. I guess it's not the first time things around here went into chaos."

"Yeah …" Rachel replied, carefully walking into the hall with Rosen. "Except we're dealing with an alpha that has an ability unlike anything we've seen before. Plus, she's got Cameron who has a powerful ability of his own."

Meanwhile, Cameron and Nina noticed there were too many guards by the exit. They resorted to hiding instead, trying to think of another way out. They quickly walked the empty halls of Building Seven, treading with an awkward silence that Nina's curiosity had to break.

"So that's an amazing ability you have. How does it work?"

Cameron thought to himself for a second. He hesitated on answering, confused on what he was doing. "Um … wait. Hold on …"

Realizing her induction was about to wear off, she quickly faced him without warning and pushed.

"_It's okay. You can trust me._"

In a hypnotic daze, Cameron calmed down, smiling at her. "Yeah … I can trust you." He repeated, after a moment of his brain processing the induction information, overriding his will.

Nina gave him a friendly smile back. She enjoyed getting to know a man after a god-awfully long period of loneliness. Pushing people became second nature to her and in her mind, controlling someone's will seemed like it was the best option to take what she needed in this seemingly unfair world. She never questioned how or why she was born with this ability but she sure as hell accepted it with gratitude.

As Cameron and Nina began walking again, Cameron did his best to explain his hyper-kinesis. "Well, I'm not the doc so I can't exactly remember everything he told me."

Nina chuckled, being fine with it as he continued.

"But I apparently have an advanced cerebellum which is part of the brain responsible for uh … coordination, precision … accuracy. Stuff like that."

Nina nodded to him, looking around to make sure no one was coming to interrupt them as she listened.

"I've been told my cerebellum has made new and significant neural connections to make it so I can always hit my target and anticipate where things will be before they happen. Kind of like pre-cognition, I guess."

Interested, Nina grinned, enjoying the learning experience. In her own moment of weakness, she spoke. "You know … this alpha thing is really-"

She suddenly felt herself being forced backwards by Cameron about a second before a tranquilizer shot was fired. This was another downside of Nina's ability; she had a habit of being too relaxed whenever she felt safe and in control.

"Stay behind me." Cameron told Nina. Feeling the rush of adrenaline once again, Nina complied as she saw Bill come around the corner, aiming his weapon at them.

"I've really had enough of you, Nina!"

"Just leave me alone!" she shouted. With Bill's glasses blocking his eyes, there was no use trying to push him.

"Nina! It's for your own good. You're a threat to society as well as yourself!" Bill retorted right back.

As Cameron drew his pistol on Bill, Nina looked behind her as she saw five guards, all with dark glasses on aiming their own weapons at both Cameron and Nina. Trapped from both directions, Nina felt a creeping despair, telling her this was her time. In a harsh panic, she quickly thought of something to counter them all with.

"Let us go!" she angrily demanded. "Or I'll push him to kill himself! I swear to god! Get me out of here!

"Please, Nina. Don't do this!" Dr. Rosen's voice caught her attention as he and Rachel appeared from the same corner Bill came from.

"I recommend that you reconsider that threat, Nina! I don't think you want any more blood on your hands!" Bill quickly emphasized, still keeping his weapon, trying to balance his focus on both Nina and the pushed Cameron.

He was right. In her heart, Nina knew she didn't mean what she said. She didn't say anything and she didn't want to admit she was all but defeated. Analyzing the hopelessness of the situation, she couldn't help but be reduced to tears. It was partly because of a selfish last resort attempt to try to appeal to her captors emotionally, obviously not wanting to face the consequences of her actions. However, her tears were due to her realization that she screwed up and was secretly glad she was captured when she was, before she caused any more damage.

Dr. Rosen kept Rachel back and approached Nina very slowly. Cameron turned his attention to Rosen, causing Bill to react.

"Doc!"

"It's okay, Bill." Rosen kept his cool and his professionalism as well as his hands up. "Nina … I understand you're upset." He said, trying to keep a sympathetic therapist voice to the uncontrollably weeping Nina who sank to the floor against the wall. She was by all means internally and externally trapped. Rosen couldn't quite forgive Nina for causing a child to die. She was nowhere near forgiveness, but he tried to understand her as best as he could. Rosen compared her to an alcoholic in his mind; someone who just can't help but find themselves back with the bottle again and again. It was a rough comparison to her ability but he knew that all abilities had downsides, one way or another so he was dedicated to help Nina cope with hers.

"Nina …" he said, trying to get her attention by kneeling down to her level. "I can help you." He genuinely believed he could get through to her like he's done with the rest of his team as well as most other alphas he's worked with in the past.

Cameron kept a watchful eye on Bill as he aimed his pistol at Dr. Rosen. Not focusing so much on his weapon, Bill tried to snap Cameron out of it by quietly conversing with him.

"Hicks … Trust me. Alright? Why are you doing this?"

"I'm just here to protect Nina and get her out of here …" he quickly replied, his answer taking the top priority of his thoughts. But then, it started to slowly slip away.

"No. Look, Hicks. I'm your friend. You don't pull your gun on your friends … Right?" Bill reasoned as he slowly put down his own weapon to show a sign of good faith.

"I will if it means ….. Wait." Cameron stuttered, still with his gun positioned. His head was clouded more and more with confusing and conflicting thoughts.

Then Bill interrupted his thought process. "Think of Tyler."

That certainly caught Cameron's attention, as well as Nina's, still leaking tears from her eyes. Cameron remembered the fond memories he and his young son Tyler had together before he split up with his wife Patti a while back.

"What would he think if he saw you like this?" Bill further questioned, as if to 'push' Cameron out of his state of mind.

Cameron continued to think of Tyler as is number one priority like it mostly had been his entire life, ever since his son entered this world. Then he remembered why he and Patti divorced in the first place. He slowly let his weapon down and looked up at Bill. "Oh god …" he finally said, scratching his head. "I'm sorry for all this."

"It's okay, man." Bill replied. "Do me a favour. Don't turn around and look at Nina. In fact, head back to the testing room. Get away from here."

Cameron sighed as he gave Bill his pistol and hustled out of the area. Dr. Rosen did some quick thinking of his own. "Of course … It seems that someone could be broken free from induction by activating an emotional response within."

All it did was make Nina feel even more upset, knowing she could've potentially ruined another child's life by taking away his father. That one hit her like a knife to a heart.

Rachel approached Dr. Rosen and handed him blindfolds from her pocket. "Here you go." She whispered to him.

"Thanks." Rosen turned to Nina with a sense of conclusion. "I'm sorry, Nina. But it needs to be this way."

Nina could only close her eyes as there was no getting out of this one. She felt Dr. Rosen attach the blindfolds to her eyes as Bill cuffed her hands behind her back. Bill and the guards all helped her stand up and walk down the hall as Dr. Rosen and Rachel watched them go. Rachel couldn't help but feel great disdain for Nina as well as a sense of relief, which she has been waiting to feel all day.

"I can't believe her. I don't imagine anyone could ever forgive or trust someone like that." She mumbled, disgusted with quiet fury.

Rosen sighed, relieving stress. "I feel the same way, Rachel." Being an empathic individual, Dr. Rosen was a naturally excellent therapist, though this also meant he had to balance out his professional emotions with his own irrationality.

Not nearly as professional as her therapist, Rachel held onto the bitterness of her thoughts. "I can still hear her crying …"

Back at the main office building, Agent Clay had introduced a witness of the crime scene to Dr. Rosen who seemed a little off. While Clay had them questioned in another room, Dr. Rosen waited in his own office, working on papers that described the new alpha ability of induction he had just discovered.

"I've met many alphas with many different variations of abilities. How come I've only just recently found out about this particular ability now?" he pondered, keeping his head down at the files.

He had Gary with him, walking around in circles eating chocolate pudding. "Mmm-Mmm!" Gary acclaimed, not aware of his own awkward silence breaking. He got to the end of the cup as he slipped in the last spoonful into his mouth and swallowed.

"We need to get more pudding …" Gary announced, getting straight to the point. "I'm recycling this." he added, referring to his cup.

"Yes. Thank you, Gary." Rosen kept his head down, not really concentrating on him.

Just then, a bald black man entered Dr. Rosen's office, wearing a traditional suit and tie. "Dr. Rosen?"

Rosen sprang his head up to look at Clay. "Oh. Hello, Clay. Has everything been taken care of with Nina?"

"Yup. We've got her chipped. She won't be bothering anyone for a long time."

Sighing with disappointment yet solace, Dr. Rosen moved on. "Good. How's our witness doing?"

"I've got him right here." He replied, finally guiding Daniel into the room, wearing a new red sweater. As soon as Daniel looked up at Dr. Rosen he felt that familiar feeling.

"Thirty-one years … Fifty-six days …" he shyly whispered to himself.

Then he turned to Gary.

"Sixty-two years … Ninety days …"

Rosen raised an eyebrow, still smiling to keep everyone comfortable.

"Th – Those are just random numbers … I don't get it." Gary said, having trouble interpreting the kid.

"He did that to me too." Clay told Rosen. "I was hoping maybe you could talk with him while I keep talking to his mother." Clay turned away and left, not giving Rosen much of a choice, though he was happy to anyway.

"What's your name?" Rosen politely asked, having gotten up from his chair.

"Daniel."

"Well, Daniel. How are you coming up with those numbers?"

Daniel hesitated a little, though finding trust in Rosen, answered him. "They're your current life span … the remaining years and days you have left to live."

Suddenly Gary voiced a thought. "Oh! He must be another alpha!"

"Yes. You're right." Rosen agreed as he analyzed and made his best guess when comparing his ability to others in his head. "He could be a biological intuitive alpha who bases their ability on the human aging process."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, clearly depressed and self-conscious. Making sure Daniel felt safe, Rosen used his calm therapeutic voice to speak, like he did with all his other patients.

"Don't worry, Daniel. You have nothing to be ashamed about. As a matter of fact, I'm specialized in dealing with people who have special abilities similar to yours."

Daniel found the courage to look into Dr. Rosen's face, finding his behaviour pleasant and non-threatening. "People like me?"

"Yes." Rosen nodded. "I know you've been through quite an ordeal today and if you'd like, you're more than welcome to schedule appointments with me to discuss any problems you're going through regarding your ability. Your mother's here. Right?"

"Yeah." Daniel smiled.

"So why don't we go find her?"

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
